Examples of conventional kinds of image processing apparatuses are disclosed in, Japanese Patent Laying-open No. 2001-269482 (referred to as prior art 1) and Japanese Patent Laying-open No. 2002-360920 (referred to as prior art 2). The prior art 1 relates to an art in which a viewpoint location is exchanged concurrent with a state change such as a location of an object, etc. When a player's own character, operated by the player, and an enemy character are farther than a predetermined distance, a virtual camera is set to a first viewpoint-location, in which a subjective image for the player's own character is obtained, and when the player's own character and the enemy character are close within the predetermined distance, the virtual camera is set by being exchanged to a second viewpoint-location that increases a visibility of a fighting situation, for example.
In addition, the prior art 2 relates to an art that exchanges to an image display in which a camera viewpoint is brought close to a player character so as to avert an obstacle due to an obstruction when there is an obstruction that obstructs the camera viewpoint between the camera viewpoint and the player character. Furthermore, in a case of bringing the camera viewpoint close to a back of the player character, the player character is made transparent, such as a borderline expression, a translucence expression, etc., so that a visual field is prevented from being obstructed by the player character.
However, the above-described prior arts are arts that exchange the viewpoint location corresponding to a location relationship between an operating object operated by the player and another object. Therefore, it is not possible to respond to a following problem in a game played by selecting one operating object out of a plurality of the operating objects different in size, for example.
That is, in such the game, a range of the visual field obstructed by the operating object itself differs depending on the selected operating object, thus damaging a feeling of equality of the game. This leads to a problem of not being able to realize the same game aspect.
In a conventional race game, for example, capable of selecting a plurality of karts as the operating object, one (unique) viewpoint location is adopted for any kart that is selected. Therefore, in the race game capable of selecting karts in three different sizes (i.e., large, medium, and small) as the operating object, and the viewpoint location renders an optimum image when the kart is medium in size, when the large kart is selected (tall in height, in particular), as shown in FIG. 1, for example, a large range is obstructed by the operating object. This leads to a problem because it becomes difficult to anticipate a course of the kart. To the contrary, when the small kart is selected, the impact of the race tends to become weak due to the size of the kart. Furthermore, a difference in such an obstructing range makes operability different. Thus, in the prior art, due to the difference in size of the selected operating object, the game becomes advantageous or disadvantageous. This leads to the problem that it is not possible to realize the same game aspect with different operating objects. Furthermore, in a fighting game, for example, a problem is that a feeling of unfairness occurs among players.
Therefore, it is a feature of the illustrative embodiments to provide a novel image processing apparatus, and storing medium that stores an image processing program.
Therefore, it is another feature of the illustrative embodiments to provide an image processing apparatus, and a storing medium that stores an image processing program capable of providing the same game aspect even if any one of a plurality of operating objects different in size is selected.
An image processing apparatus according to the illustrative embodiments is an image processing apparatus that displays on a display an image in which an operating object appearing in a virtual three-dimensional space is seen from a predetermined viewpoint location. The image processing apparatus comprises an operating means, a selecting means, a viewpoint-location setting means, and an image displaying means. The operating means is operated by a player. The selecting means selects the operating object appearing in the virtual three-dimensional space, out of a plurality of the operating objects different in size, based on an operation of the operating means. The viewpoint-location setting means sets the viewpoint location in correspondence with the operating object selected by the selecting means. The image displaying means displays a three-dimensional image including the operating object based on the viewpoint location set by the viewpoint-location setting means.
More specifically, the image processing apparatus (10) displays on a display (34) an image in which an operating object appearing in a virtual three-dimensional space is seen from a predetermined viewpoint location. The operating means (26) is operated by a player. The selecting means (36, 70a, S3-S5) selects the operating object appearing in the virtual three-dimensional space, out of a plurality of the operating objects (72a, 72b, 72c) different in size, based on an operation of the operating means. The viewpoint-location setting means (36, 70b, S7-S17) sets the viewpoint location in correspondence with the operating object selected by the selecting means. Furthermore, the image displaying means (36, 42, 70c, S19) displays a three-dimensional image including the operating object (A, B, C) based on the viewpoint location (E1, E2, E3) set by the viewpoint-location setting means. Therefore, according to the illustrative embodiments, the viewpoint location is set corresponding to the selected operating object so that even if any one of the operating objects different in size is selected, the operating object is displayed as the operating object in the optimum size, thus making it possible to provide the same game aspect.
In a certain embodiment, this image processing apparatus further comprises a viewpoint-location-data storing means (74) for storing each viewpoint location data correlated with each of the plurality of the operating objects. The viewpoint-location setting means reads from the viewpoint-location-data storing means the viewpoint location data corresponding to the operating object selected by the selecting means in order to set the viewpoint location. Therefore, it is possible to easily set the viewpoint location.
In a certain embodiment, each of the viewpoint location data is set to display the operating object as approximately the same in size no matter which operating objects is selected by the selecting means. Therefore, it is possible to render a visual range obstructed by the operating object equal, thus providing the same game aspect.
The viewpoint location data may include distance data (X1, X2, X3) from a point-of-regard (IL, I2, I3), for example. The viewpoint-location setting means reads out the distance data from the point-of-regard corresponding to the operating object selected by the selecting means in order to set the viewpoint location. Therefore, it is possible to easily set the viewpoint distance. In addition, by setting the viewpoint distance corresponding to the size of the operating object, it becomes possible to allow the operating object displayed on a screen to be displayed in the optimum size.
Furthermore, the viewpoint location data may include angle data (α1, α2, α3) or height data (H1, H2, H3) from the point-of-regard. The viewpoint-location setting means reads out the angle data or the height data from the point-of-regard corresponding to the operating object selected by the selecting means in order to set the viewpoint location. Therefore, it is possible to easily set a viewpoint angle or a viewpoint height. In addition, by setting the viewpoint angle and the viewpoint height to the optimum location corresponding to the size of the operating object, it becomes possible to allow the operating object displayed on the screen to be displayed in the optimum size.
A storing medium that stores an image processing program according to the illustrative embodiments is a storing medium that stores an image processing program to be executed by an image processing apparatus that is provided with an operating means operated by a player, and displays on a display an image in which an operating object, appearing in a virtual three-dimensional space, is seen from a predetermined viewpoint location. The image processing program of this storing medium includes a selecting step, a viewpoint-location setting step, and an image displaying step, and allows a computer of the above-described image processing apparatus to execute these steps. The selecting step selects the operating object appearing in the virtual three-dimensional space, out of a plurality of the operating objects different in size, based on an operation of the operating means. The viewpoint-location setting step sets the viewpoint location to correspond with the operating object selected by the selecting step. The image displaying step displays a three-dimensional image including the operating object selected by the selecting step based on the viewpoint location set by the viewpoint-location setting step.
According to the storing medium that stores the image processing program, similar to the above-described image processing apparatus, even if any one of the operating objects different in size is selected, the operating object is displayed as the operating object in the optimum size, thus providing the same game aspect.
According to the illustrative embodiments, the viewpoint location is set corresponding to the selected operating object so that even if any one of the operating objects different in size is selected, the operating object is displayed as the operating object in the optimum size. Thus, there is neither an advantage nor a disadvantage depending on the selected operating object so that it is possible to provide the same game aspect. In a fighting game, etc., for example, it is possible to eliminate a feeling of unfairness resulting from the selection of operating objects different in size.
The above described features and other features, aspects and advantages of the illustrative embodiments will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.